Foolish Heart
by NextGeneration18
Summary: When Ella offered Iggy to teach him how to use Brail, he knew he would fall in love with her...and dreaded it. Iggy/Ella one-shot. My first Maximum Ride fic.
**Alright, so I've only read the first Maximum Ride book so forgive me if I get a few things wrong. This is just a bunny that hopped into my mind and wouldn't exactly go away. This might be an actual pairing in the book because I saw a few fan fictions on them but this was churning in my mind before I saw them. I just started thinking "What if…what if…" and thus, this story was born.**

 **Before we begin I would like to clarify that Iggy's 17 and Ella's 15; Max and Fang are also a couple by this point.**

 **I do not own any of the Maximum Ride characters; James Patterson does. On a side note I never thought I'd ever read a James Patterson book until three days ago…which I finished last night!**

 **Alright, on with the story!**

* * *

 _I need a love that grows_

 _I don't want it unless I know_

 _With each passing hour_

 _Someone, somehow_

 _Will be there_

 _Ready to share_

 _-_ Steve Perry _, Foolish Heart_

* * *

Iggy couldn't believe it; he was actually reading a book with little-to-no problem! It had been a long time since he had been that happy.

"Alright, read it out loud so I can make sure you're reading it right." His tutor requested.

Iggy smiled at the sound of her sweet voice.

"Alright," he responded as he felt his way to the top of the page. He found the brail and did as she asked. " ' _Look, I didn't want to be a half-blood._

" ' _If you're reading this because you think you are one, my advice is: close this book right now. Believe whatever lie your mom or dad told you about your birth, and try to lead a normal life._

" ' _Being a half-blood is dangerous. It's scary. Most of the time, it gets you killed in painful, nasty ways._

" ' _If you're a normal kid, reading this because you think it's fiction, great. Read on. I envy you for being able to believe that none of this ever happened.*'_ "

"That's awesome!" Iggy heard the smile in Ella's praise and smiled in return, "It was flawless!"

"Really?"

"Really. I'm so proud of you!" She gave him a side hug and he felt her rest her head on his shoulder.

Iggy blushed and turned his head away.

"Thank-you," he said looking in her direction as she let go of him, "For everything, Ella."

"No problem." She reached over and put her hand on top of one his which was resting on the page; Iggy savored the feel of her soft, gentle hand.

A few months prior, Ella had offered to teach Iggy to use brail since she had volunteered at a school for the blind once every two weeks.

Iggy had been hesitant at first, but eventually gave in figuring that it would be a helpful tool for him to use in the future. Besides, he had wanted to get to know Ella better.

Ella proved to be a patient tutor; especially the times Iggy had gotten frustrated and wanted to give up. But Ella's steady patience and encouragement had always brought him back to their lessons.

As the months went by, Iggy had gotten familiar with the feel of each letter, punctuation, and paragraph and got better and better with each lesson and practice.

Something else had happened. Something that he figured would happen but both dreaded and not dreaded it happening.

He had fallen hard for Ella.

The first time he had met her, he had been captivated by her sweet voice. Over the years of being blind he had become accustomed to pick up someone character by the person's tone of voice. Most of the time, he hadn't liked what he heard which represented the character of most people he met.

But when he first heard Ella and her mother, he knew right away they were good people and he saw immediately what Max saw in them.

Ella's voice had immediately turned his ear and could tell right away that he was doomed to fall for her.

As he got to know her he felt himself more and more drawn to her and resisted the tug he felt when he was in her presence. After all, he was a half bird, half mutant freak; a blind one at that; even a girl as sweet as Ella would never think twice about him. Not in _that_ way, anyway.

When she had offered to be his tutor, Iggy knew that it was it; he knew he was going to fall hard hook, line and sinker without being able to stop it.

And that's exactly what had happened.

Her nearness physically and emotionally as she guided his hands and talked quietly in his ear had sealed his doom as well as her go-team attitude whenever he got discouraged.

He found himself squeezing her hand every now and then, quivering internally whenever she sat close next to him and bewitched by her voice and presence.

He was now trying to get a visual image of her in his head. He had one for each of the flock no matter how outdated they were, and he now wanted one of Ella.

Before he had become blind, the one feature that made him have a crush on a girl was the smile. It wasn't the hair, eye color or even weight; it was always her smile.

He wanted to at least get an outline of what she looked like. Nothing below the neck, just her face; he would be able to take the rest from there even if she didn't see him as he saw her.

"Is something wrong, Iggy?" He heard the concern in her voice, "If it has something to do with your lessons…"

"No." Iggy cleared his throat, "That's fine; I just…uh…um…" he had never been lost for words before.

"What?" Ella sounded curious.

"Um, I know it's a strange request but…" he stopped again wondering how to approach this. "I…uh…want to get an idea of what you look like."

There was a moment of silence as she processed his implication.

"You weren't born blind." He heard both curiosity and question in her statement.

"No…" This had always been a sensitive subject for him; it wasn't something that he always told people. Especially since he had major trust issues to begin with.

"They, uh…try to enhance my night vision…and made me blind the process."

Another moment of silence passed between the two of them.

"Oh." She said. "I'm sorry."

Iggy scoffed.

"It's not your fault." He said before pausing. "But that's not what I wanted to talk about."

"You wanted to get an idea of what I look like; do you want me to describe my features to you?"

"Well…that would be helpful, but I have another approach if you're comfortable enough with me taking it."

"Oh?" Ella now sounded borderline suspicious.

"Yeah…I want to…trace your face; only your face!" He held his hands up in reassurance. "Nothing below your face. I'm just…trying to get an idea of what you look like and I feel that I can only do that by…feeling your face." He winced. There. He'd said. Now the ball was thrown to Ella. Would she want to throw it back or toss it to the side?

He heard her scoff nervously…though not derisively.

"Umm.." she gave a short laugh, "I…suppose; I don't think you'll try and do anything to me."

He felt relieved that she trusted him.

"Don't worry," he smiled, "I won't." He reached out to try and find her face. He felt Ella gently take his hands into her own and press one to her face and the other to her cheekbone. He heard her catch her breath as their skins made contact with one another and heard her let out her breath slowly; Iggy's heart skipped a beat.

With his thumb he gently traced her cheekbone and found it to raise high as his thumb traveled from her chin to her ear. He ran his hand over her ear and then used his other hand to trace her head back to her cheekbones; her hair was silky smooth, like down.

He heard her laugh softly in amusement when he traced her nose; it was a little oily but he didn't care.

"Can you smile for me?" he asked.

"What, you want to trace that too?" Her voice was light, but tight and breathless at the same time; Iggy was now wondering if it was a good idea to ask if it was okay to do this.

"Sure;" he responded all the same, "I want to get a good visual of your smile."

"Alright."

Iggy used her nose as a guide to find her mouth and traced her lips. Now he _knew_ this was a bad idea. He was now wondering what it would be like to kiss her. But he _was_ getting a good visual of her, and she was beautiful.

"What color is your hair and eyes?" He asked for the soul purpose of putting the finishing touches on his visual of her; he had never had a type when it came to a girl's hair and eye color.

"Both are brown;" Came her breathless voice. "Really dark brown."

Yes, she was beautiful.

He suddenly felt her soft fingers touch his own cheekbone and he felt his feelings stir even deeper. Her other hand held his own to her cheek. His heart rate picked up speed as the lines quickly became more blurred in his mind. He found her lips again and leaned down and kissed her.

He heard her gasp softly then moaned as she leaned in to it. He wrapped his arms around her and he felt her arms slowly wrap themselves around his neck.

 _What are you doing!?_

Iggy snapped himself out of it and gently pushed her away but held on to one of her wrists. Both were breathless.

"I'm sorry." He apologized. He let go of her wrist and stood up to leave; he knew his surroundings well enough not to trip over anything. What had he been _thinking?_

"Wait; Iggy." He felt one of Ella's hands shoot out and grab hold of his own wrist. "Don't go; please."

He turned his head in her direction.

"I shouldn't have done that; it wasn't right." He swallowed hard. She was never going to want to talk to him again.

"But…did you mean it?"

Was Iggy crazy to think he had heard hope in her voice? Maybe not crazy, but wishful.

"Of course I did." He sat back down. "But it wasn't right; I mean, it's not like you see me in that way or anything."

"Then why did you think I kissed you back?"

"I-I-I don't know. Because you just felt like it?" For some reason, he felt like that was the worst answer he could have ever given.

"What are you saying? That I'm the kind of girl who wants a kiss for the sake of a kiss?" She didn't sound just angry, but hurt and surprised.

Yep. _Defiantly_ the worst answer he could have ever given.

"No! That's not what I'm saying at all! Anyone could get caught up in the moment like that and do something they wouldn't do otherwise unless they were in that moment." He winced at how lame it sounded.

"Oh. I see how that can work for some people."

Iggy felt relieved.

"But Iggy, I'm not the kind of girl who accepts a kiss from just anyone; I believe a kiss is meant for someone who _want_ to be with."

Iggy felt his world begin to spin. Did that mean…what he thought that meant?

"Ella, are you saying that…what I'm asking is that…are you saying that…"

He felt her squeeze both of his hands.

"Yes. The truth is, Iggy, that I've had a big crush on you since the day we met." She laughed softly in embarrassment.

Was Iggy dreaming? He pinched the inside of his hand with his index and thumb nail.

Nope; he was awake.

"Wait, _how_ could you have a crush on me?" He asked in amazement. "What could you _possibly_ see in a guy like me?"

Ella laughed softly in surprise.

"What could I not?" She stroked one of his hands thoughtfully.

"What could you not? Ella, I'm a half-bird, half-mutant freak! A _blind_ one at that! And you're a normal beautiful teenage girl who has a chance as any to have a normal life. And don't tell me you're not beautiful; I know you are. What could you possibly see in me?"

"You're kind and compassionate." Iggy felt the warmth and tenderness in her voice as well as her fingers brushing against his cheek. He closed his eyes savoring her touch.

"You may be impatient at times, but you never give up on your family. I couldn't help but fall for you when I saw how you interacted with Gazzy and Nudge.

"Despite your blindness, you're amazing with gadgets and you somehow know what to do every time with a little bit of physical guidance. And well, you may not know this, but you're really cute." Ella laughed nervously.

Iggy blinked.

"Even though I'm blind and have wings?"

"Iggy." Ella brought both of his hand up to her chin. "I don't care about that; in fact, I like your wings; they're a part of who you are." She kissed both of his hands. "And as for being blind, I've never cared about that about anyone. Just so long as the person was kind and had not let his disability embitter him. Like you." Ella rested her cheek on top of one of his hands.

Iggy couldn't believe what he was hearing; he just sat there gaping at her. It had never occurred to him that someone could love him wholeheartedly for who he was, wings included. He just thought that if he was lucky enough to have a girl fall in love with him, it would _despite_ his wings, and instead, Ella loved that part of him.

"Well…say something." Her voice was quiet, almost pleading.

Iggy snapped himself out of it.

"Oh, sorry," he cleared this throat, "I just never thought a girl would ever love that part of me." He swallowed.

"Oh, Iggy." He felt Ella's lips touch his in a light kiss, "I love you no matter what. In fact, I knew I would from the day we met."

Iggy laughed softly.

"That makes two of us. I guess we're both living proof that instant chemistry is possible despite blindness. And wings."

Ella laughed.

"You did?"

"Yeah, I could hear it in your voice that you were a good person; and I hadn't heard that often. Plus, Max trusted you so it was a foregone conclusion that I would trust you too. I knew exactly what she saw in you and your mother."

Ella laughed again.

"Really? But we're so…normal."

"Exactly." He let the top of his hand rub her resting cheek, "And yet, not entirely because you two just accepted us for who we are; that had never happened before. Both attributes were enough to make me fall for you." He moved closer to her and kissed the top of her head. Her scent was intoxicating. He felt Ella let go of his hands and wrap his arms around his torso. Iggy took her into his arms and rocked her back and forth.

"You've got to be kidding me."

Both teenagers looked up in the direction of Gazzy's voice. It sounded like he was in the doorway.

"Okay, it was bad enough I saw Max kiss Fang before my very eyes three years ago, but now _this?!_ "

"Um…how long have you been standing there?" Ella asked.

"Long enough. Nothing will surprise me after this." Iggy heard him start to walk away.

"Angel used to have the biggest crush on Ari!" Iggy shouted.

"La-la-la-la-la-la-la! I can't hear you!" He heard Gazzy take off in a run.

"What?" Ella asked.

"Never mind." Iggy smiled, "We never stayed at the School long enough for it to really matter anyway."

"Okay." A moment of silence passed between them. "So…are now…a thing?"

"I don't know; do you want us to be?"

"Well…yes, of course, but do you want us to be?"

"Um…yeah."

"Alright." He heard the laughter and smile in her voice.

Iggy found her lips and kissed her again and he rocked her back and forth. Ella wrapped her arms around his neck and she buried her face in his shoulder once they finished.

"Do you think Max will kill us?" She asked.

"I don't think so." Iggy inhaled her scent once more. "She'll just warn me not to break your heart."

"Or what?"

"Maybe it's best that neither of us actually know that."

Ella chuckled.

"You're probably right."

* * *

* **The first few paragraphs of Percy Jackson and the Lighting Thief**

 **So…like it? Hate it? Please let me know by reviewing or commenting, but please no, spoilers, foul language and/or character bashing.**


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